ammaarah
Written on Jun 30, 2016
1) It came with the whole entire Maze Runner series that I booked from the library months ago.
2) Because I hoped that it would redeem The Maze Runner Series for me.
"We made it, and that's all that matters. Somehow you need to let go of the past." (Trina)
I didn't care about anything in this book, the characters, the plot, the action and the violence and as a prequel it didn't add anything important to the story.
THE CHARACTERS
The prologue made me believe that the characters from The Maze Runner would feature in The Kill Order, but I was mistaken. None of the Gladers or characters in The Maze Runner appear in this book. Entirely new characters are introduced and these characters have already developed relationships a year before this book starts. I feel neutral (I didn't hate them, nor did I like them) towards these characters and this was due to fact that I didn't get to know who they are and why they interact with each other the way they do. Because I didn't know much about the characters, I could not relate to them and I wasn't rooting for them.
Dashner tries extra hard to make his characters likable and sympathetic, but ends up making them untouchable and invincible "heroes" that are difficult to form a connection with. The characters in The Kill Order go through emotional and trying times, but I didn't feel the emotions and horrors with them. The characters in this book are also stereotypical and aren't developed. I could literally replace these characters with characters from The Maze Runner and it wouldn't make a difference.
THE PLOT
When I read a prequel, I always ask myself, "How does this book impact on the series and does it add anything to it." In this case, the answer is a definite "No!" This book doesn't deal with the Sun Flares and how it impacts the earth as I thought it would. Instead, it's told in disjointed flashbacks by the main character, Mark.
This book doesn't even deal with Thomas and Theresa and their past with WICKED as the prologue makes me believe it would and this is something that I was definitely looking forward to. Instead, this book deals with the Virus that infected the human population, a year after the Sun Flares have ruined the earth. Instead of answering questions that I still hve after the end of The Death Cure this book proceeds to make me more confused and make me ask even more questions and I doubt these questions will be answered now. It's extremely frustrating and annoying.
The plot is also extremely random and disjointed. It felt as though Dashner wanted to deal with a lot of themes and issues in this book and he introduces them, but fails to carry them through. In terms of plot, this book goes nowhere! I didn't know what the end-game of the characters are or what are were trying to achieve.
THE ACTION AND VIOLENCE
The action and violence over took everything else in this book. The plot and the characters are overshadowed by the action. I love books that are fast-paced and can keep me on the edge of my seat, but that's not the only thing that makes me love a book. The book has to include either characters that blow me away, a world that makes me think the author is a genius or a story line that makes me wishing that I thought of it first. The Kill Order has none of that going for it.
The only thing it has is action and violence and it's used to the extreme. Something involving fighting and weaponry happens on almost every single page and I got so bored of it all. The same thing that happened to me while reading The Maze Runner series happens in The Kill Order. My head isn't racing when the characters get into trouble and I didn't even care when they do. I was immune to the action that was going on and instead of feeling like I was reading a dystopian book that kept me guessing, I ended up feeling as though I was reading a sports magazine. (There are many people who enjoy reading about sports, but I'm not one of them. When I read about sports, I'm usually bored, unattached, uninterested and confused - i.e. the way I felt when reading The Kill Order)
The Kill Order favours action and violence over character development and a solid plot and for me, a book cannot stand on its "shock-factor", which is it's action and violence, alone. I feel no emotions or connections towards this book.
